Game freezes or stops responding on a Windows 10 device

Overview

It's frustrating when you experience performance or stability problems while playing games on your Windows 10 device. For example, a game might freeze or stop responding unexpectedly. The solutions on this page can help resolve problems you may experience during gameplay on your Windows 10 device.

Solution 4: Check the system requirements for the game

Some games have specific minimum system requirements for your Windows 10 device to be able to play them seamlessly. If your game is freezing or not responding, verify that the device you're using can run the game without any problems.

Solution 5: Check that you have network connectivity

If your game requires an online connection, losing connectivity mid-game can result in problems playing the game. Usually, the game will let you know if it has lost network connectivity.

Here's how you can check whether you're still connected:

Press the Windows button on your device or keyboard, or select the Windows icon from the bottom-left corner of the main screen.

Select Settings, and then select Network & Internet.

Make sure that the network you're connected to displays Connected.

If your network does not appear as Connected, or if you're having connectivity problems, scroll to the bottom of the page and select Network and Sharing Center. From there, select Troubleshoot problems, and then follow the instructions.

Solution 6: Sign in as a different user

Sometimes the performance and stability of gameplay can be affected by corrupted profile data on your Windows 10 device. To check your profile data, try playing the same game using a different account. Here's how:

Press the Windows button on your device or keyboard, or select the Windows icon from the bottom-left corner of the main screen.

Select your account name from the top-left corner of the menu, and then select Switch account.

Sign in with an account other than the one you were using.

Restart the game to see if it works correctly.

Solution 7: Repair or reinstall the game

Occasionally, game files become corrupted or altered if you have malware or are running a game modification on your device. If your game is freezing or not responding, uninstalling and reinstalling it will remove and replace the files that run the game.

Solution 8: Check whether your account has been banned from a game

Game developers can build game-specific security into their titles and enforce their community policies to help ensure fair and respectful gameplay. If you can no longer access a particular game, it may be the result of a game-specific enforcement or ban. Because every game is different, the method by which you are notified of a game ban varies by developer. For specific information about a game ban, contact the appropriate game developer or publisher.

If your game continues to freeze or stop responding, visit the Windows 10 Games page for a list of all game titles. If this is a Microsoft-published game, you can check for game-specific information, as well as links to the community pages for known service outages or sign-in issues. If this game was published by a third party, you'll find direct links to their service and community pages.